Happy Birthday .. to me!

12:00 AM: An sms from first best friend Suppi wishing me a very happy birthday :)
1:30AM:
Mom whispering loudly to Altoid(Who is here for her annual vacation)"Is it 12 yet?"
Altoid:*Matter of fact tone* "No , its 1:30"
Mom:"Oh no!!! We missed midnight! .. I will wake your Dad up.."
I pretended to be fast asleep and shut my eyes tighter lest I stole their thunder.
By this time , my Mom had successfully prodded my Dad in the stomach to wake him up.
Dad:*Who had taken his rehearsals from the previous night a tad too seriously*
" Happy Birthday to you ....."*sing song voice*
Mom:"Hushhhhh... Its me!"
Dad:"oh"
Mom:" Come.. we will get the cake"
Dad:*Eyes shining* "Cake!"
The next thing i see hear is my Dad brandishing a cake with a candle atop it.
*Happy Birthday to youuuu ...* yes I definitely know where I get my out of tune singing from.

Mom emerged victoriously with two jewel boxes.

*Flashback start*
Yesterday, sometime in the afternoon , Dad had mysteriously entered the room and grunted even more mysteriously to Mom.
Dad:" Your old school colleague Mrs SK has come" (Like he was reading out a herald)
Mom: "Who??"
Dad:*Glares hard and grunts even harder*
Mom:*Light dawns..30 years of living together had to get them somewhere*
Alto: *giggle*
Me to Alto: "Is that the jeweler?"
Alto*Very helpfully* "When?"
*Flashback End*

Me:"Ma? You guys got me jewelery? Who knew!"

And that my dear friends is the story each time!

Jesus Christ from the old company called, strange thing with him being , we never talk to each other the entire year !Messages from unknown numbers are quite embarrassing.Like the one that went "Someone above loves you , someone below cares for you .. Happy Budday" it went.Turned out to be a colleague who is very nice, of course I am going to be nicer to him from today.I love everybody who remembers my budday.

I love my budday.

Happy Budday to me

:)

The Raghu Dixit concert

was what I went to last Friday purely on a whim.It started with an impulsive yes to S's suggestion , who by the way has been singing paeans of praise about RD ever since the Gudugudiya song hit the charts.So there we were , S's two madcap cousins(who I found amazingly endearing), S's madcap friends , Aksa and I.My vision of RD at this point was that of a man who "..wore a Lungi and sported a bead necklace" ,courtesy Aksa and who was ".. the most divinely talented most amazing human being who's ever walked the earth " , courtesy S. What struck me most about the entire experience was RD himself , not only is he a wonderful singer, but the manner in which he interacted with the audience, explained in detail to us the whys and the hows behind each song and its composition,made us dance to his tunes(literally) , introduced his Mother to us(A very sweet looking lady)and made sure that our bleary work day got completely transformed into a rocking night.Thanks , so much RD.. I would strongly recommend you to buy the CD complete with its Madhubani inspired depictions of a dancing/walking/thinking RD, Song lyrics and a thank-you note from RD which is oh-so-lovely! And oh .. this is his website

All my bags are packed ..

I return to India today.And , I am just back from a 6AM walk that gears me up to face the rest of the day.The ladies setting up the breakfast counter wished me a cheery good morning.I'm going to miss being here.Miss the 6AM hour , when there's a hint of daylight , the sound of those dreadful geese , and the splashing of the water in the fountain.I feel like the world is one giant baby that's slowly waking up .. and guess what? I already did that!



Ok , so moving on..The highlight of the trip was the sister , of course! The only reason I didn't lose my mind given the colleagues I traveled with(calls out for a looong post) and the only reason I never felt homesick.Someone who'd patiently chalk out my travel itinerary for each weekend with the right amount of fun,history(err yes .. I sometimes call her eMonica) and someone who never put on the bored face when she took me out on these outings(given she has seen these places about 30 zillion times already).You know .. bored faces (the one's that read Oh been here , seen it already , gotta see it again 'coz I need to show you around) are SUCH a turn-off for enthusiastic tourists .. well what do you know emo , you definitely were'nt that, thank god!


Of all the places I have been to , I liked the Niagara the best.. I think I will be back each year at a different season to watch the Niagara. I remember the first time the spray hit my face. At that exact instant , nothing mattered , it was just me and the spray and the all pervading sound of the river.. strange .. that something that sounds so forceful should bring out a sense of peace within you..


A close second was the Harper's Ferry ..the Potomac river and the Shenandoah valley .. I remember taking a long walk with Appa that day while Amma and Alty sat on a rock .. reading!! Really!







DC comes third , DC has that air about it.Like New Delhi , Leonine, royal, well-read ..

:) .

So here it is. A salute to the star spangled banner and a cheery wave to the tri-color.

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

A trip to Maddur

Some weeks back , I decided I'd take the geriatrics to to Maddur.Why Maddur? 'Coz of the famous Vaidyanatha Temple thats a few kilometres from the town and also the Ambegal Krishna temple at Doddamalur , near Chennapatna.
Now , lets talk our language.
We set out at 7:30AM laden with biscuits , fruits , dates , Filter kaapi flask , hand towel , leg towel, towel towel , newspaper , 3 library books(which were stored carefully in a separate 'book' bag in case they got lost/damaged/lost and damaged),iodex, amritanjan,shampoo hair comb, paddle hair comb, soap,dettol.
Suffice to say , my Mother's previous birth must have been that of an ant.A wary one at that.
Car driving always puts me into a bad mood.The pressure of having to save one's life , one's dependent's lives(which includes Petunia's as well) is a little too much to handle.Especially with Petunia , she's certainly not a morning person.There was a maddening jam at the Mysore road junction , a demented Sumo guy came and hit my bumper and sailed forth after showering abuses on ME!I showed off my vocabulary rather well , only to find two horrified faces looking at me wondering what they had done wrong. Sheesh! Sometimes there's no winning , is there?
Once out of Kengeri , the highway broadens into three and that's when you really start enjoying the drive.At this point , I felt like the girl from the Sumo Victa Ad , any of you remember her?She's the one who drives a Sumo Victa with her entire family dozing behind her.Found it.
An hour later , we stopped at Kamat Lokaruchi(Lok-aa-ruchi as Gee calls it in her Punju accent :)) for breakfast.You have a choice of a breakfast-Buffet versus singal-singal order.Buffet it was!We were served little glasses of fresh pure grape juice , 2 hot idlies , crispa vadas , hot pongal,the kharabath-kesaribath duo, and quarter pieces of hot masala dosa, with chutney and sambar.That's one thing I love about Karnataka.The food.Its a vegetarian's paradise.
We washed down the breakfast with a cup of hot filter kaapi , found ourselves smiling dreamilly(obviously because of the breakfast) and sauntered into Janapada Loka which is right next to Lokaruchi.
Our next stop was to be the Ambegal Krishna temple at DoddaMalur.Ambegaalu in Kannada means "to crawl".Legend has it that it was after visiting this temple that Purandaradasa composed the famous "Jagadhodharana Adisidalu Yashoda".It was my favorite composition during dance practices.Coming to think of it , all songs describing Lord Krishna enthrall me.

What struck me most about the temple were its walls, walls that had probably seen history unfold.
Old.Majestic.Sanctuary , yes , thats the word to describe it best.

It was around 11 when we set off towards the Vaidyanathaswamy temple in Maddur,which is about 20 Kms from Chennapatna.You need to branch off into the Maddur Main road from the highway and take a detour that will lead you to the Vaidyanathapura road.There on , its a straight course.Ask any native the way and they'll go "Straight hogi madam , then swalpa yeda , matthe balagade ondu sethuve sigathhe , alli hoga baradu.. " and so on.For those lost in translation , that meant "keep going straight, turn to the left a *little* , turn to the right and you will find a bridge..that's where you mustn't be going :D.

In any of the Vaidyanatha temples , the pooja involves immersing some jaggery and salt into the Kalyani(to indicate that the disease will vanish just as the salt and jaggery do into the waters).

I watched as my Mom and Dad vanished into the temple before it closed for lunch and stood at the head of the steps.From where I stood , I could see forests, paddy fields and the river.. all at once.Sometimes , you don't really need a temple or an idol to pray to.

Come 1'o clock and we reached Maddur town.I insisted on stopping at the Maddur railway station.It brings back memories of my childhood when my entire family would make a trip to Mysore , our ancestral hometown.And my uncle used to make it a point to stop at the Maddur railway station for the famous Maddur Vadas.The railway station is so much from a scene from Malgudi days.So idyllic and sleepy.

The station guard sauntered up to me while I was clicking away and asked me if I was press-avaru.I told him I'd put it up on the internet , would he like to strike a pose?He blushed a brilliant red and changed the subject.He pointed to a poster of the ' Fairy Queen' and told me very sadly that steam engines were a thing of the past.
As I slowly pulled out of the railway station towards the highway , I could hear familiar voices in my head , that of Patti describing to me how my great grandad had to sell our Mysore home in order to treat a great aunt's illness , how Thatha used to come back to a *rented*(she would sigh at this time) house in Mysore , some more about the mango trees and the jackfruit orchards.Somehow that entire stretch from Bangalore to Mysore is like a cord that connects me to my past , familiar names -Chennapatna , Maddur, Mandya,Srirangapatna , T-Narsipur(we had old barren land there -but catch me calling it that in front of Patti) and then finally Mysore.

yesterday all my troubles seemed faar away ..!

Yesterday was just lovely.The entire day.
Morning started off with rigorous gymming , after which i settled down beside a colleague with a plate of hot poha and chutney sent by Mom and a cup of steaming filter coffee.

The evening was cloudy and windy (typically Bangalore after 3 days of touching 35 degs) , my cab mates started playing DC and one girl had t he *gasp* audacity to ask me if I was good at acting.*GASP* . I wondered what Mom , Dad and Alt would sat to this .. . i still cant get over it! Seren , can you act??? can i act??
Oh well . I got quite a difficult word to "act" .. its just that my team cracked "illusion" in just about errm 10 seconds.
Thank you very much.
Anyway , evening saw me reach home by 6:30 , there was no power and I popped upstairs to have a dekho on all my potted plants.. I still havent posted about them , no? I have pictures too .. will post asap , ok? Anyway i have pots that I planted with my own little hands(yes , i am this cute) theres marigolds , petunias(which is also the name of my car) , theres a rose plant , jasmine , all of which i potted. Myself.
I came back and sat with Appa in the verandah , swung my legs and ate whatever Amma had left for me in the microwave(She had gone to the temple).It was windy and there was a touch of a drizzle .. i could smell the wet mud and some upma in the mouth.
:)

All my Bags

I'm not really a 'My bag needs to go with my outfit' kind of person.I'm more of a 'I will carry whichever bag I carried last night' kind of person.This is understandable since I need to catch a cab at 7:50 AM everyday and shifting a wallet , ipod,mobile,mobile charger,hair brush and a couple of other sensible utilities is too much to do that early in the morning when my To do list for the day reads
1.Don't leave without a bath
2.By leave , I mean to office.
Anyway , an avid shopper that I am, I can never think one bag more, is too many. Please find below, photos of my veritable bag collection and the tale that they have to tell.

The Shantiniketan Bag

Alto had the same bag in red (Do you still have it , Alt?) and I loved it.So much that Mom gifted me this bag on my birthday, I think it was my 18th.




The Do-it-yourself Bag .Gifted to me by Alto.The cutest bag I have.It came with all the stickers and my favorite is the yellow smily.

The corduroy bag , in my favourite color , red!Gifted to me by Alto(you will find this sentence used to bits in this post).Also Mom's favourite.

Byraka Mountain Gear

My college bag , lots of sentiments , trips, results, pani-puri tales,dust,bike-trip memories attached. I havent the heart to give it away :).

Kauko!

Gifted to me by Vi on my birthday. The multi utility ruffian bag.Vi and I used to keep yelping 'Kauko!' to each other whenever I carried the bag for a few days after that.

The twilight bag

I love this bag because of the wordings on it.The owner of the boutique we saw it in convinced me that since I'd given my heart to it in the auspicious twilight hour , I had to make it mine.By paying 800 odd bucks.Vi maintained that it wasn't auspicious but suspicious and it didnt really take twilight for me to be made an ass of.

Oh well.

Copper Nicus

The only trendy yet sensible bag I own , bought it at a sale at Brand factory.

The twin bag

It so happened that Alto had ordered the cream bag to be sent to me on my birthday and it didnt come through or so she thought , and ordered the maroon bag.Ta-da! Both landed on the same day.Being an ass must be heriditary :P

The crochet bag

Goes with my jeans and is uber-cool.The only non-rag cloth item that I found at Fab-India

Cleo the clutch

Gifted to me on my birthday by Gee and SRC.Im still waiting for the right time to team it with a black gown n ink-blue shoes :D

Red woolie bag
Hand made by Mom.Its too lovely too be carried!

Came with the tamboolam at somebody's wedding.Looks fab with a with a silk saree.

That's enough about me.Now tell me , in detail mind you , which is your favorite bag and whats the tale behind it? Tell Tell?

And oh .. happy V day .. heres hoping Ram Sene can do what my Mom hasn't been able to all these years..get me married!!
Heh

Its that day of the year ..!

A hurried visit to the tailor , lying about the date , hurrying back with a newly stitched unironed Kurta = lots of effort+300 Rs







Two wooden block prints bought at Dastkar Mela , Chitrakala Parishat+ Fevicryl Fabric Paint +Wooden bangles bought at Fab India= Rs 500

A perfect ensemble all ready for the birthday = Priceless

Happyy Birthday to me !! :)

See what I got ..

First and foremost .. all the bangaloreans safe? Did you all reach home safely ?... I'm hoping I heard a loud YES.. :)

I finished embroidering this top FINALLY .. took some 3 odd months and very many spurts of enthusiasm :)